Saving Her

Chapter 23. Hungry Hearts

"Hey, kid, it's good to see you," FP hugged Charles as he offered him seating.

"It's good to see you too, FP," he sat down right after. "How's everything going?"

"Good, good... I was just um, I was going to tell your mom about you since she's been better. But then she went into a crying fit the other night. She's really tender still and I know it would help for you guys to meet, but I just don't know how to do it. I want her to be happy and clear headed so that she can take you in properly, as the mother she wanted to be."

He nodded in return, interested in what the man had to say.

Since their last meeting, the two had met up almost every Monday since their last dinner and it was very private, either at Pop's or at the Sheriff's Station. They were getting closer, but Charles had his own internal demons that ate him as he was growing closer to his family, his real family.

"Can I ask you a question, FP?" the young man stated.

"Of course, anything you want," he assured.

Smiling softly, "I was just wondering... Since we haven't really brought it up and as much research as I did, how did you and Alice meet and get back together after all these years?"

"Um, well... We were really a short fling in high school, we went separate ways after some events in high school. I started dating Gladys, Jellybean and Jughead's mom. Your mom was already dating Betty and Polly's dad... Besides that, we started getting closer a couple years ago. I was in prison for a bit..." he said shamefully. "I had a rough past, but anyway, she picked me up along with Betty and Jug and then the girls got into some trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Uh, it's kind of private. But there was a kid, an intruder posing as you. Alice threw her husband out for him, she did everything she could to protect him until he got them caught up in several things. Held hostage in their home, attacked in their home... He was a dangerous kid. He's the one who told your mom that you were dead."

"Chic?" he creased his brow.

"Yeah..." he replied.

"That asshole," he stated angrily.

"Yeah, he told Alice that you ODd because of her turning you away at some point. Is that true?"

"I had an addiction when I was younger," he assured. "I struggled with the fact that I would never be adopted and I ended up meeting Chic on the streets. Then we managed to get a place together and we were roommates. He got me hooked on a lot of crap that was destroying my body. I did OD the night that she turned me away, but it wasn't because of her. It was because I had already taken a massive amount of drugs before I got there."

"I'm sorry... Addiction sort of runs in the family," he commented. "I'm an alcoholic."

His son nodded.

"Since we're on the topic..."

He looked up.

"Betty and Jug did some investigating around the time Chic was found out. They said, one of your neighbors, you were really nice, help with groceries and say hello to her in Spanish... She said that one day you were gone, but Chic was getting rid of bloody sheets."

"Yeah... We used to get into arguments a lot, he'd get violent and break things. Usually we'd argue about money and that was about it, other than that, we had a codependent friendship. One time, I was trying to get sober and I we got into a fight about that because I also didn't want to deal either. Things escalated quickly, he pulled a knife on me and he almost killed. He cut my arm pretty bad and I grabbed one of the sheets in order to try and stop the bleeding. Due to the drugs, my blood thinned so it was excessive. I then decided that in order to get clean, I'd need to leave town. So that's what I did. I left and headed to Centerville in order to get away from my life here. I got clean, went to school and I became an FBI agent."